Seasons
by Calkat
Summary: Mai has a different boy for all seasons. Naru's reaction to the changing seasons and the changing men in his assistant's life. Two-shot. MaixNaru
1. Fall :: Spring

~ _Seasons_ ~

Part 1: Fall / Spring

* * *

2.21.10

* * *

Mai has a boy for all seasons.

* * *

_**Fall**_

Paperwork and tea didn't mix well. Maybe separately, but absolutely never in tandem.

Drinking tea: refreshing.

Reading paperwork: satisfying.

Drinking tea while reading paperwork: _disaster_.

Especially on Monday mornings, normally the first day of the workweek for the working man, though it was the second day for Naru.

If Naru hadn't been clumsy, a rarity in itself, he might missed it: the first hint of Mai's disloyalty.

The tea-tinted, sopping wet interviewee files slopped water over his desk when he picked them up, making a bigger mess of his desk calendar. Looking over his own clothes, he brushed a hand over the few errant tea droplets coating his button-up shirt. Another reason he favored black attire. Other than the obvious depressing nature for which he wore the color, it had the benefit of not showing any kind of stains as well.

Rounding the desk, Naru couldn't hear any noise coming from the outer reception area which either meant Mai had snuck out again, or she was sleeping on the job.

Mai was never quiet. _Mai was the antithesis of quiet._

When he was almost to the door, he heard the first echoes of her voice. Voice pitched low, she seemed to be talking to herself in the outer room, which under the laws of fair blackmail made Naru hesitate at the edge of the door. He might uncover something worthwhile to gain more leverage against his firecracker assistant.

Waiting and calculating, Naru noticed her voice was almost a murmur. He pressed closer to the door, glad that no one could catch him…spying. For such childish behavior, he would never hear the end of it. Lin might raise an eyebrow and leave it at that, but the rest of the Irregulars he had on retainer with S.P.R. would never let him live it down. Except John, and he was the worst of them all. John would give him the closed-eye disappointed headshake in the same vein of parental disapproval. Nothing like years of clerical guilt to give you time to practice that look until you had it down perfect. The silent treatment, while Naru appreciated it, was by far the worst.

"—really, don't come down here. You don't even know the address…" she mumbled. Naru could barely make out what she was saying, but he recognized the scolding tone.

A pause. "It is not in the address book," she snapped, but then followed the reprimand in an absurdly gentle juxtaposition of her usual fervor.

The simple pause and unheard response to Mai's monologue explained it. Mai wasn't talking to herself, she was talking to someone over the phone. "No! I can walk by myself and I'll meet you by the middle school—not Shoto! Yoyogi, and then we can head over to Sangubashi." Silence, then, "Yes, yes—fine!"

She snorted rather indelicately—a cross between a bull preparing to charge and an annoyed, huffy teenage girl. An apt description for Mai it may be, but Naru was wise enough to never share those thoughts with her.

Naru knew that Mai occasionally ducked out of work early to go out with Takigawa or Yasuhara, but she hadn't hid that for months. In the beginning, she had been worried about being caught, but after never being reprimanded for it, Mai hadn't bothered to be sneaky about it since.

He briefly considered picking up his phone to hack her line to hear the whole conversation, but the idea was cut short when he heard Mai hang up. It had sounded like her usual conversations with one of the S.P.R. Irregulars, but somehow, this time was different, and when he ran the conversation over again in his head, he caught it. Mai had told the person not to come here, which in and of itself wasn't unusual, but the person hadn't known where S.P.R. was…_and that was the suspicious part._

Thinking back, Naru knew very little of the girl's friends outside of S.P.R. When she'd first started, he'd found out about her homelife from the principal, but not much else other than the sparse details he overheard when she spoke with her coworkers. Admittedly, he knew very little about Mai. Probably only a little more than she knew about him. And that wasn't much considering how she still thought his name was Shibuya Kazuya.

There were a million possibilities, several of which Naru dismissed immediately. She could be meeting another one of her empty-headed friends, no names came to mind immediately though. And then a more devastating thought came to mind….but was Mai really capable of such a idiotic plot?

Was Mai taking on clients on the side? Clients he had rejected and she wanted to help? It was stupid. Nowhere near thought through especially if she was taking calls at the office.

It was moronic. Perfectly Mai.

Once before, he'd caught Mai slipping turned-away clients papers with other numbers on it. The numbers of other psychic offices not dedicated to research like Naru's company, but ones that specialized in only blind exorcisms, not finding out where and why it was there.

Whatever she was up to, it served the girl right that she'd have to go over his sopping, muddied notes and re-transcribe them again. It was divine punishment on the girl for making personal phone calls during work hours.

Opening the door, he noticed the wide eyes and bewildered stare on her face followed by relief at not being caught. She followed him with wary eyes while he sauntered closer and dropped the soaked files onto her desk with a wet squelch. She grimaced at her desk with a twist of her lips and then narrowed her eyes at him as she patted the notes down with paper towels she had nearby from cleaning.

Mai moved her box of strawberry pocky away from the spreading mess of water and put one of the stick candies in her mouth.

Mai smiled knowingly with the stick of pocky hanging from the side of her mouth. "Did I miss the earthquake?"

He ignored her. "Pocky?" he asked quizzically. He had never known the teen to have a hankering for sweets.

Dabbing gently at the paper, she smiled wryly up at him, still miffed at her wet desk. "I like pocky."

"Pocky is for children."

Mai growled at Naru. "Shut up. Pocky is just fine."

"Transcribe those for me."

Her mouth dropped open, hackles raised. "You don't have the copies?" she growled.

"Those were the originals. We don't have any copies made yet, lazy assistant. I spilled my tea when I was calling for said lazy assistant. She seemed to have been too preoccupied to come and assist the man who signs her paycheck. Doing who knows what, pray tell?"

"I was—in the kitchen—filing I mean."

"Filing in the kitchen? I take it the plates and bowls are all out of order and in need of reorganzing, hm?"

"I was filing, went in the kitchen to get something to drink when the phone rang! Jeez, Naru."

Pretending that the phone call bit caught his attention more than usual, he said, "What was the phone call about?"

Mai's expressive face failed her once again. Flushing and backtracking as fast as she could in her head, she blurted out, "Prank call again! Kids—not really a case."

Mai, at all of 18 years of age, was incredibly easy to fluster. Also a terrible liar.

Naru raised a curious brow at her, but let it drop. "I need a new desk calendar for the month of August."

Mai munched on the strawberry pocky thoughtfully and tapped the desk with her pen. "We don't have any of those left."

Naru paused and glanced meaningfully down at her desk. Mai gave him a stumped look before she followed his gaze and slapped her hands down protectively on her desk like it was the last scraps of food around and she was a starving woman.

"No way," she deadpanned. "You can't have mine."

Smirking, Naru retreated to his office. She would notice soon enough. "Order one for me."

And being the generous person that he was, Naru tossed over his shoulder, "Go ahead and order one for yourself as well."

Mai's mouth dropped open, puzzled. Naru's door clicked shut behind him and he heard her indignant screech when she realized the soaking file he'd given her had soaked through her calendar as well.

* * *

For the rest of the afternoon, Naru waited carefully until he heard Mai start to pack her things. Being the genius that he was, he timed it perfectly down to when she was heading out the door. He emerged from his office, and slipped his jacket on while she watched him move around the room like a deer caught by a predator. When he finally met her gaze, he noticed she was stock still and caught with her hand on the door handle.

"And where are you heading?"

Unused to lying convincingly, the girl stumbled over her answer. "Um, the—the Meiji Shrine. Haven't been for awhile." Picking lint off of his jacket, Naru nodded and pulled the door from her hand before ushering her out.

Naru inwardly delighted at the anxiety so evident on Mai's face as he followed her down the street without a word. Setting the trap was half the fun.

The autumn was a little brisker than normal which made the girl pull tighter at the hem of her coat. The crowds on the streets parted like water as the two walked down the sidewalk, mostly due to Naru walking directly at anyone and refusing to move out of their way. They made it three blocks before Mai burst.

"Naru, where are you going?"

Naru thought over the options and watched the puzzled and concerned emotions flow easily over her face. Her brows were knit and she was decidedly worried about something. He'd play the game a little longer and see what it brought him.

He opted for silence.

Mai, still a year or so shy to be so brazen, didn't hit him, but pleaded again. Looking down, uncomfortable under his gaze, she squeaked, "Naru!"

"To the shrine."

Mai stopped walking briefly, shocked. Naru never willingly went anywhere with her. Now was quite possibly the worst timing ever for her. She bit her lip in evident frustration and looked vacant like a bout of disorientation had hit her. Recouping, she jogged to catch his strident walk. Three steps to his two.

Cautiously, she allowed him along now, but he could practically see the wheels spinning in her head as she turned the ideas over and over again, grasping at what Naru was up to.

"I'm going to the Shrine to pray," she offered tentatively. He fixed her with a look as if her very sins were written across her skin. Mai waved her hands like she could push his gaze away. "I haven't been for awhile," she finished quickly.

She continued when he didn't respond, "Are you going somewhere nearby?"

"The shrine."

"Why? You're Catholic."

"You're not Shintoist," he pointed out without breaking stride.

Mai was taken aback for a moment, but recovered. "My great-grandfather was!"

Letting her have the last of that conversation, Naru wondered at how she knew something like his religious affiliation, or technically his prior one. He was a scientific man, after all, and religion and science agreed on very little. He was fairly sure he had never mentioned it, so he asked.

Mai smiled brightly, childish and exultant all at once—like a small sun blazing. "You always have to ask Bou-san or me about Buddhism, but you rarely ask about Christian or Catholic beliefs," she surmised. "It was just a guess." She made a vacant shrug, and pulled at the edge of her scarf as if it was wound too tight around her neck. Her face was flushed, either from the wind or something else, Naru couldn't tell which. She was probably embarrassed to have been caught thinking about his personal life.

"I'm curious about the shrine," he supplied, taking the safe route. That way he had an excuse to follow her, but then realizing his mistake—that he could have, and normally _would have,_ gone without her to see a shrine, he tried to recover, "there were a couple stories in the newspaper about some mysterious happenings in the park. I guessed it had something to do with the shrine. Maybe you'll notice something." Three sentences that sounded distinctly reminiscent of babbling. He silently admonished himself for telling this girl more than was strictly necessary. He _never_ felt inclined to explain his actions, yet somehow this girl had prompted a litany of thoughts to be voiced.

Glancing down at the girl, he noticed the partial smile hidden by windblown locks of hair. Happy, but embarrassed. Very young.

Mai's nervousness waned minutely until they made it to the shrine. She stood in front of the shrine, silent and stern for a space of several minutes, exuding a false calm. Only her eyebrows furrowed betraying the rest of her calm façade. She was praying awfully hard for something, Naru presumed. Mai, occasionally, would break her concentration to see if Naru had disappeared, but he resolutely stayed within watchful distance of her, letting her know she wasn't going to escape so easily.

Sighing heavily, the girl gave in, knowing she wasn't going to be able to ditch him unless she ran for it, and then he would think she had something to be worried for—which she absolutely _did not _want him to know_._ She paced over to him and he waited expectantly, eyes fixed on the shrine over her head.

"What?" she snapped, when he eyed her curiously. "I didn't feel anything. Nothing supernatural anyway."

"You didn't clap twice," he noted with a hint of amusement.

Mai's face pinched in thought and then lit up. Looking skyward with a scowl of aggravation as if asking for patience, or help or both. She turned back to the shrine. "Oh—Shinto, right," she said lamely. She bowed, clapped twice and finished the prayer.

Righting herself, she dug her hands into her jacket and turned back to him. "…so where are you going now?"

Naru nodded his head to the south and started down the stairs, waiting at the bottom for her to follow. She walked stiltedly down each step, and then stopped opposite him, a head shorter, but twice as feisty. The walk was casual but mostly silent. Looking down at her, Naru wondered at her rigid posture and tight-lipped responses along the way. What could she possibly be hiding?

It was getting on five o'clock. Surely, the client she was meeting behind his back wanted to meet sooner rather than later.

Glancing to the side, she timidly offered, "Well, I'm heading this way—"

She abruptly stopped when Naru gripped her elbow with his hand and promptly dragged her across the park's path leading south. "—Naru—" she gasped sharply.

Scrambling to right herself at his brisk pace, she yanked at her arm uselessly and grumpily continued along with him. "You spied on me," she accused. "You heard the phone call. Why didn't you say anything? It would have saved us time and a side trip to the shrine. Now, I'm late _and annoyed._"

Naru didn't say anything. He was measuring just how mad he would be at her when they met the client and just which choice words he would cut them apart with. Mai needed a good lashing. Other bosses would have fired her. He fought the instinctive urge to glance down at her, knowing that it might only strengthen his resolve to go through with it. Whereas others would have weakened at the sight of her cute countenance, Naru would have met the idea with an overwhelming need to rid himself of her, seeing it as a weakness.

Her walk was clipped, each step a rigid cadence against the ground. She was obviously upset, but less so at being caught and more at having wasted all that time when he already knew. Silence reigned between them as they awkwardly made their way south. When Naru made to keep going south, Mai grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and tugged him to the right.

"He's probably already at the station. I'm late, after all," she griped with no further explanation.

A few more minutes and Naru admittedly was beginning to feel the chill through his clothes. He knew Mai was in less clothing, but hadn't complained once. In fact, she didn't seem to notice it at all.

At the station, they stopped and waited while Mai searched for the man from the phone call. The crowd filing in and out of the station walked with a brisk pace reminiscent of rush hour traffic. People were leaving work and in a hurry to get home. Mai surveyed the crowd for a familiar face. Naru scanned the area as well, singling out older men and childbearing adults, both of which Mai had a distinct weakness for when Naru turned them away.

And then there was that suspicious looking preschooler that kept glancing their way. Naru wouldn't be surprised if it was the little boy that Mai had come here for.

It wasn't and Naru watched as Mai fixed to the left with eyes that were a little too wide, and a grin that was forced. Exhaling in short bursts, she lifted her hand to wave half-heartedly.

Naru followed her gaze towards the buzzing crowd. Over the passerby's heads, Naru spotted a sandy-haired boy weaving between the crowd, halting when a line of people crossed his path. He waited for a break in the line and high-tailed it over to Mai, unaware that Naru was even there. He swept up to Mai, grinning broadly and wrapped her in a broad hug, tugging the smaller girl off her feet. He planted two kisses on either cheek as she fidgeted in his grip.

"Minoru. Put me down," she squeaked, wresting herself free. "_Minoru_."

Noting the tone in her voice, the boy put her down and laughed brightly at her bristling figure. "I texted you. I let you know I was going to be here. What's wrong?" Naru wondered if it was the corded tension in her back, or the firm set of her mouth that the daft boy missed. "You were the one who was late," Minoru argued looking defensive after he realized she was unhappy.

_Chalk one up for idiocy, _Naru thought snidely. The boy didn't know that when females were mad you should keep your mouth shut…unless you were quick-witted, or unusually good-looking enough to distract them. Both of which Naru proudly was, and would often remind her. It was kind of like waving a red cape at a charging bull. A good distraction, but not an entirely sound idea. _Again with the bull comparison, _Naru chided.

Naru eyed the boy. There wasn't anything memorable about him. He was average height, average built, soft around the edges where Naru was sharp, but nothing triggered a memory of having the boy as his client. _What is going on?_

Mai took a measured step away from the boy and gestured vaguely towards Naru. "Minoru, this is my boss, Shibuya Kazuya. Naru—ah, Kazuya-san—"

Casually, he said, "I don't remember him, Mai."

Bleating, she exhaled roughly, "What—of course, you don't. You've never met each other—" she whipped around to face Minoru, "—right?" She finished almost threateningly. The boy tried not to laugh and shook his head vigorously. A resounding no.

Minoru rubbed his brow and ran a hand through his hair, smiling wanly. "Sorry about that. Miwake Minoru. Pleasure to meet you." He bowed slightly.

Naru didn't look away from Mai, his confusion deepening. "He wasn't a client," he said, half a statement, half in question. Minoru, staggered by the rudeness, waved his hand near Naru, vying for attention at being intentionally ignored.

"No! He wasn't a client!" Mai sputtered. "What? Is it against policy to date former clients now even if he was? You think I would prey on distraught people like they were my only option for dating?" Her pitch rose with each word.

"Excuse me," Minoru said. His voice faded into the background as employee and employer wracked their brains to understand exactly what was going on.

"Dating…" Naru ventured distractedly.

Mai's lips puckered in a cross expression, and she looked at her boss, confused. "No, Naru, he isn't a client. He's my boyfriend," she said slowly, measuring the words out like she hadn't quite said them before.

Her boyfriend. "Not a client you were trying to help because I denied them," he prompted.

Mai scoffed and crossed her arms, assuming her battle stance. "You—gah, ultimate jerk! Why would I—w-why—honestly, I mean meet them—stupid—you think this is all about you—" Mai managed several more sugar-coated curses as she hadn't yet been able to break her primary school habit of censoring her words. Minoru was busy trying to fish her out of the grave she was digging in front of her boss which would have lowered Naru's opinion of him had Naru cared in the first place. Mai's love life was her own affair. He could honestly care less who his assistant dated.

Minoru tried to diffuse the two. "—Mai, calm down. She's really sorry—under a lot of pressure lately—tests and a vicious strain of…uh, pinkeye going around the school—also, they're playing volleyball in gym, which she's terrible at. Pinkeye and volleyball don't mix well—and math, at that—"

"—_ridiculous!_" The fuming girl finished, screeching and throwing her arms up. Her face was beet red from anger, and a probably skyrocketing blood pressure.

Naru merely shook his head and walked away, clutching at his jacket because he was now frozen from standing outside for too long.

_Pfft. Boyfriend._ And he had thought it had been something to worry about.

"_Idiot!_" She yelled at his retreating form.

_**

* * *

**_

_**Spring**_

At nearly 19 ('Two months!' she would happily boast for no good reason as a countdown to her birthday), Mai was just starting into her first year of college. She was also starting to discover the innate allure women had over some men and she was eagerly reveling in it. It also meant that she was discovering the joys of frilly, flirty and lacy skirts that on better days rested at the tops of her knees and on worse days, skimmed mid-thigh.

Naru had thought to give all three other employees a handout of proper office attire that forbade stroke-inducing skirts, but that would mean admitting that he had noticed Mai's recent change in attire. It would mean admitting that she was becoming an office distraction to everyone, himself included. Sending out a memo to everyone would also garner strange looks from Lin as he didn't wear skirts, nor notice women. Not to mention Yasuhara, the final office employee would never let him hear the end of it. Naru wouldn't be surprised if Yasuhara wore a skirt into the office just to irritate him.

Yes, Mai was undoubtedly discovering the allure of toned, bare legs on the opposite sex.

She hadn't grown much taller, and like most other girls that age, she had tried to keep up with the shifting ideal of what was trendy in pop culture. She'd cut her hair twice, permed it once, and finally was now letting it grow out a bit, long enough to curl at the base of her neck now. She was too thin for Naru's taste, her same adolescent weight was now stretched out into slightly longer limbs, thoughts he had voiced when Madoka had prodded him into sharing his opinion about his maturing assistant. 'Boney, but lovely' Madoka had called her. 'Too skinny and troublesome,' Naru countered. 'And her hair's too short.' Madoka merely smiled irritatingly.

At her desk, Naru watched the girl-soon-to-be-a-woman twirl her pen between her fingers. She spun the pen again, flicking it over the back of her fingers before catching it in a tricky maneuver. The ease in which she effortlessly caught the pen without looking as it rolled around the backside of her pinky surprised Naru. He wouldn't have suspected someone so inept at merely walking to manage to look so dexterous and fluid. Most likely it meant she had spent long hours in the classroom practicing the flick of her wrist instead of paying attention to class.

The mahogany-haired ghost hunter bounced her foot lightly over her crossed (and bare) leg as she rested her chin in her palm while reading from her textbook.

Naru crept around her desk and pawed through the unorganized files in the cases behind her noisily and fruitlessly. He wondered if Mai had even noticed that Yasuhara had replaced her magenta A-coded files with her orange M-coded ones. Probably not as she would have thrown a fit and beaten the boy senseless already. As punishment, Naru decided to let her figure it out on her own. Lazy girl.

Her phone buzzed noisily, dancing along the surface of her desk. Snatching it up like she expected Naru to grab it (which he'd briefly considered) she hit the touch-screen to unlock it. A blue message popped up. Pulling a file, Naru's back went rigid when he heard his assistant giggle. Was she laughing at him? And if so, what for?

At first, he thought it was something to do with him, but with a prepared look of disdain on his face, he turned to look at her only to see that she was smirking coyly over her phone. She laughed again as if her boss wasn't standing right behind her which annoyed Naru to no end. The girl had developed quite a lot of nerve over her tenure at S.P.R.

She also had yet to completely forgive him for up and leaving her (and Japan, but mostly her) for two months, and would occasionally remind him of that with a casually dropped barb that she would only use in order to guilt him into letting her leave early without docking her pay. The girl had worn him down bit-by-bit over the years and in the space of time between Naru's departure and Naru's return, Madoka had headed the Japan-based S.P.R.

Unfortunately, that meant that Madoka had likely taken the precious time to train his former assistant in Madoka's specialty: the wiles of wrapping men around her little finger. Something that Mai had taken to with a keen persistence. Though she became more adept at manipulating people, Mai still found Naru a difficult challenge. Naru also noticed that he was the most available outlet, Mai had pegged him for the easiest to practice on. Lately, Lin had trapped himself into his office when the first day of spring had been announced in the form of a short-skirted Mai prowling into the office. Lin had been entirely unprepared for the teen's arrival, especially at the way she'd hidden her development behind long jackets and loose-fitted pants over the winter.

Caught off-guard yet again (which was quickly becoming more and more common when it came to Mai), Naru took a steadying breath while watching his literally red-handed assistant. The pads of her fingertips were coated in red crystal candy, and a tiny molehill more lay on the desk in front of her. Forgetting the phone, Naru zeroed in on Mai's next curiosity.

"What is that?" Naru eyed the candy crystals on Mai's desk that resembled a form of illegal narcotics—and given Mai's behavior lately, short skirts being the most prominent symptom, it was entirely likely that they were narcotics—skimpy-outfit-encouraging narcotics.

"Pop rocks," Mai said, licking more of the crystals off her fingertips. "Candy," she clarified.

Naru curled his lip in distaste. "Messy food."

"Messy kind of girl," Mai quipped back.

"Think you can manage to dredge up some semblance of professional behavior," Naru groused, feeling the beginnings of annoyance blossom.

Mai stopped licking her fingers and fixed him with a stern look. "And who here is worthy of that?"

Naru scowled down at the girl again. She pulled the tip of her finger out of her mouth with a wet pop and smiled up at him with candy-dyed red lips, deliberately trying to annoy him.

"You look like you swallowed Little Red Riding Hood," Naru growled, nearing the end of his nerves.

"Woof," Mai said, grinning. Naru had to fight the urge to roll his eyes at the difficult girl.

Mai held up some crystals on the tip of her on her untouched ring finger. "Pop rock?" she offered, tilting her head in question at him, feigning innocence, assured that he would never agree to it—and she was right.

It was Madoka's accursed influence again. Mai eyed him, indifferently flirtatious with a tiny smile creasing her mouth. Her other finger trailed over her own lips as if wanting to catch every last crystal. The deadly flirtation that she had steadily been encouraging since his return had grown to mammoth proportions. Naru toyed with several ideas in his head. From scolding her to throwing her across the desk, but none that would teach her a lesson about flirting so carelessly without a thought of consequences.

At the end of her fingertip stood a casual challenge. One he couldn't let pass.

Seeing a golden opportunity to pull on her chain after she had been so relentless at yanking on his, Naru bent over the proffered finger and closed his lips over the digit. Tangy, zesty, and too sweet—the candy, not the girl, though she was a very close second to how good it tasted to his surprise. Normally, he hated sugar, but he supposed his liking the taste had more to do with whose finger it was sticking to as opposed to the chemically altered flavor. Naru watched her face, locking her eyes with his. He was intrigued at the flurry of emotions that flooded her face and the heat that rapidly flushed her neck. It made him curious as to how low that blush dipped below that shirt.

Mouth slightly parted in awe, Mai made a half-scandalized, half-wanton noise in her throat. Naru avoided running his tongue over her finger more than the customary once to clean the candy off after her eyes threatened to roll back into her head after the first sweep of his tongue. She may be out of his league in terms of her newly acquired skills in flirtation, but in terms of raw sexuality, Naru had her immeasurably overwhelmed.

Mai choked out a raspy '_stop' _before she yanked her hand back and cradled it like she was wounded. She shrunk back in her chair, not unlike prey trying to blend into the background, but more like someone who was holding herself together from falling apart at the seams.

"Okay," she said a little breathily, and nodded, "No more pop rocks in the office," she promised.

"Or skirts," he tried to add in, hoping she was still too dazed to argue. Righting himself, Naru licked the corner of his mouth to seal the deal. He heard Mai swallow hard, and withheld a chuckle of victory.

Her stupor evaporated. "Bite me."

He leaned closer causing her to sink further into her chair while he shook his head at her. "Poor choice of words, Mai."

The normally quick-witted Mai faltered, tripping headfirst over her words in a speechless daze.

He left her alone for the rest of the day opting to lounge in his office. He wanted to give her space to unwind and diffuse, so that she wouldn't be apt to take out her frustration on him later.

Around 4 o'clock Bou-san and Masako arrived in the late afternoon and created a ruckus in the front room. Out of habit, Naru yelled at them from his office to quiet down only to have to emerge 10 minutes later when they were loud once again.

Takigawa sat on the edge of Mai's desk pestering her as usual. The younger girl had a quirky grin spread over her lips staring up at him with a sibling sort of reverence. She already had Takigawa wrapped around her finger. She had no need to exercise her feminine wiles on him lest she wanted to break the poor man.

Mai hastily hid the empty packet of pop rocks when she heard Naru's door click open.

Takigawa grinned broadly, reaching to ruffle her hair like a child. "Don't worry. I'll answer calls for the rest of the day. 'S not rocket-science," the monk teased. Mai nodded thankfully and accepted his lame jokes with the same encouraging acceptance that she did everyday.

Masako, spotting Naru, dipped her head low in a greeting which he didn't return.

Grabbing her purse, and bypassing the coat rack (as she had no need for a coat in the lovely weather), Mai pretended that she hadn't seen Naru and made to leave.

Pinning Mai with a look, he said, "And where are you going?"

"Out," she responded with the same icy tone.

"'Out' describes exiting the door, but unless your next answer is followed by 'In,' as in 'walking back in the door and getting back to work' you should reconsider."

Mai half-sighed, half-growled an unattractive sound.

"I'm going to Omotesando. I'm going to catch a bus from there," she lied. The ease in which she lied so quickly meant that she had planned out her answers for such an occasion. She was actually displaying some foresight. Oddly, it pleased Naru that she was thinking ahead, even if it was lying to him, her boss. It meant she was using her brain and not letting it just rot in her head. It was nice to see the lazy girl wasn't as daft as he used to think she was.

"I'm meeting a tutor for school," she clarified. That was Mai, always having to explain things out in detail—even in her lies.

"A tutor," Naru repeated skeptically.

"In English," the girl replied chipperly. "So unless there's a problem…" She put a finger to her mouth quizzically, a subtle reminder and threat of how he had teased her this morning—and unless he wanted the rest of the office to know he had molested his assistant...

She was blackmailing him! Stupid, conniving yet _clever_ girl. Smiling brilliantly when he had nothing else to say, she said, "Nope? Okay, then. Well, see you guys next week!"

She waved to them and the door closed with a bell chime behind her. Within seconds, Takigawa smirked malevolently, ready to dissect what had just happened as none of them had missed the wired exchange between them. Naru never knew the man was such a gossipmonger.

Grinning wolfishly, the monk played with a nonexistent mustache on his face, twirling invisible hair. "Is she really meeting her tutor?" Takigawa asked them.

Masako and Naru both shook their heads. Takigawa had suspected that Masako knew, but for Naru to know…just how much didn't the man let on?

"Well," Takigawa egged him on. "What's going on? Details, details!"

Naru shrugged. "Mai will tell you if she sees fit." The monk and the medium shared a doubtful look, and then both glared poignantly at Naru, waiting for him to confirm what they already knew.

Sighing, he said, "She's dating the tutor."

Takigawa clapped his hands, pseudo-shock on his face. "You do know! How?"

Naru shrugged and opened the file that had been in his hands. "He's been in a couple times to pick her up."

Masako was fighting against speaking, but the need to _know_ got the better of her. "Did you speak to him?" she asked quietly.

Naru flipped a few more pages over in the file, idly looking at it, but not really seeing it. "We've exchanged words," and he didn't say anymore, which from the exasperated look of the two psychics greatly bothered them.

Naru closed the file and sauntered back towards his office. "Shouldn't the two of you be doing something? Packing, maybe," he hinted. "We head out tomorrow afternoon to Takayama."

Neither took the hint. "Well, what did you say?" Takigawa pressed.

Naru glared unkindly at both of them from the doorway to his office. "I offered him tea," he said acidly, and shut the door behind him.

* * *

_**Next: **__Part 2: Winter / Summer_


	2. Winter :: Summer

~ _Seasons_ ~

Part 2: Winter / Summer

* * *

3.17.10

* * *

_"And we thought that tutor had been trouble."_

_

* * *

_

**Winter**

The sun hung low in the sky, a couple hours away from true midday. The air was crisp and as fresh as Naru had ever smelled it out in the countryside far away from the cement and smog of downtown Tokyo. The noise which was utterly unbearable at times in the city was the opposite of the country where all you could hear out among the rolling hills and wide open pasture of the country side was the occasional gust of wind and the tinkling laughter of one Taniyama Mai…who was late…again.

Naru knew Mai sometimes dreamed of the countryside, wanting to live outside the city limits for a year or two maybe, just to see if the grass really was _greener…_ Metaphorically or physically, he knew she wasn't really that picky, but to make everyone else wait while she stood on the second rung and hung off the farm's tall fence was irritating because everyone else wanted to be on the road early to get back to the city before darkness obscured the roads.

Yet there she was, happiness incarnate, basking in the glow of the sun and looking like she was a beautiful nymph that had been lured out by the call of nature—the true call of nature, just enjoying the earth and it's endless offerings. It was really rude, and uncalled for. Especially because it was the dead of winter and somehow, the sun was out and Mai had somehow packed a lightweight outfit for their overnight case.

"Lin," Naru said, prompting his assistant.

Lin merely looked at him in askance.

Naru didn't say anything for a moment testing Mai's preposterous theory.

Lin started to become aggravated at Naru having said his name for no reason. "What?" Lin asked in a clipped tone, clearly having no idea that Naru wanted him to honk the horn or rev the engine to get Mai's attention—and possible get her into the car. Both, maybe.

Naru wondered at Mai's theory which she had been talking about earlier that day: something about how all Naru had to do was say Lin's name and his assistant would innately know what to do without being told. Well, here was the perfect time to prove her wrong—only she wasn't anywhere nearby. Instead, she was hanging off the side of a chopped up carcass of a tree. In that poor excuse of a shirt that clung on by tiny straps, and was that shirt _that thin _or was Mai really not wearing a bra? He really needed to sit her down and have a talk about appropriate attire. She was clearly losing her bearings on what passed for business and what qualified as casual wear.

And those _stupid, _nonsensical _(though maybe sexy) _sandals that had a ridiculous bow accenting the top of her foot and a peep toe front that displayed lime green toenails with flowers on them.

How did he know they had a peep toe front or even what that particular style was called? Because she had forced him to take her shopping after she had taken the brunt of a particularly nasty ghosts assault. And by nasty ghost, he meant smelly, disgusting, non-hygienic spirit that dumped a load of sticky, and putrid goo on top her, but not before she had shoved Naru out of the way of what she thought had been a potentially deadly attack. Had she known this was going to happen, she'd have shoved him _into _it, helping the ghost, or so she'd told him rather threateningly. Hindsight was 20/20.

Mai hopped off the fence, probably having reached her limit of sun soaking. She skipped over to the van, a swing in her hips as she practically glowed with happiness. How she managed that after a ghost hunt was beyond him.

"Late again," Naru scolded, eying her with the vanity mirror set in the sun visor he'd flipped down. The indirect eye contact diminished the withering look he had, but unless he wanted to crane around in his seat, it would have to suffice.

Mai stumbled into the open doorway of the van. She met Naru's cross expression with a patient one of her own. Her hair, longer now, a tad past her shoulders, lifted off her shoulders as a breeze gusted by.

Smiling brightly, she said, "But you waited for me."

Scowling, Naru said, "Next time, I won't wait."

With a languid and satisfied expression on her face, Mai climbed into the back of the van and promptly collapsed, draping herself across the bench seat with a sigh. Rolling onto her side, Mai's tempered expression slowly slid into a quiet look of contemplation.

"After all the waiting I've done for you, I'll think you'll wait forever," she said calmly and with a finality that startled Naru at how serious she sounded. It was a dangerous tone. Naru flipped the sun visor back up, ending the conversation and ignoring her. He clicked his seatbelt on and suggested she do the same.

She pretended not to hear him and their game of ignoring and annoying each other started over again. It was rapidly beginning to get old.

Reaching, she hefted her bag onto her stomach and fidgeted in her shorts' pocket, searching for something. A little panicky at first, she relaxed as her hand stilled in her pocket. The glint of metal caught Naru's eye as she turned it over and over again in her hand, thinking that he couldn't see her from his angle. She had been mostly right, except she had forgotten the most obvious….the rear view mirror that always hung from the ceiling gave him an easy view to her lap, and of the ring.

* * *

The trip weighed long and heavy on Naru's mind. It wasn't enough that Mai was with _another _guy. No, there just had to be a ring, that extra little cherry on top of the cake of 'Taniyama Mai—no longer devotedly yours.'

It hadn't bothered him before because no matter who she had been with, she had always put him first. She was always there—in his life, hanging on his every whim, and word. Even as independent as she was, she was always attentive to him, and now he was finding the absence of her growing into a large unsatisfactory void—a vacuum of space she'd left behind where he suffered without her.

He was merely left with the rare times she came around the office "to tidy up," or to "make sure Lin-san ha[d]n't lost his mind because heaven knows, [Naru] never talked to him." He was paraphrasing, of course. She actually was much nastier and more practiced at cutting him down after the years she had spent in his presence.

Now, Naru had to be content with watching her. As she left his life. As she only grew more breathtaking by the day—and it wasn't her looks he cared for. It was that easy feeling of life that she wrapped around herself like a security blanket that she would so easily share with anyone else without a second thought.

Once again, she was leaving.

Eyes bright and a hint of a redness blooming on her cheeks was telltale enough. She was going to see _him_.

"See you all soon!" Mai yelled, skipping backwards as she dug for something in her purse. Always skipping now, that girl, as if mere walking was too plain for her and not energetic enough to match the passion of life within her.

Naru couldn't fathom how one person could so perfectly encapsulate what it meant to be alive, but there she was, a deity in her own right, disguised as human and clad in raggedy jean shorts and beige camisole with bad hair. In that moment, he hated her. Hated the way he was so drawn to her and how she pulled him out of his comfort zone of having no one and having nothing left after Gene was taken away from him. Hated how she was threatening to fill his spot because she was the same kind as Gene, obnoxious and meddling and stout in her beliefs and utterly unafraid of him. An equal in bearing, not in intelligence, but more than a match in sheer perseverance.

She had no idea the trouble she had caused, the upheaval she'd inspired in his life, the _turmoil._ She pulled her phone out and hastily flipped it open, brightening at whatever she saw on the screen. Probably a rainbow, or something equally frivolous. She tapped a few keys and put the phone up to her ear. "Hey," she said eagerly. "I was just going to call you..." She half-turned, waving goodbye at them again.

"Disgusting," Takigawa said, voicing Naru's thoughts aloud.

Naru hung out the passenger door, seated and hand resting over his knee as he hunched forward. He said nothing, but by this point, everyone already knew how he felt about his assistant and how she affected him.

Takigawa, never one to hold things back, told him, "You're losing her."

Wordless, Naru nodded, silently agreeing.

Yasuhara leaned against the side of the car watching Mai fade in the distance. "It's that new guy right, the firefighter." It wasn't quite a question, more a statement of fact.

"Yeah…Shit. A firefighter! How much worse can it get? He saves kittens and grandmothers on a daily basis! You're royally screwed, my friend." At least you had a chance when she was with the blond guy that she brought to my last gig. He was nice, but I could tell that he wasn't someone she was going to stay with. This new one is trouble. He's..." Takigawa shuddered. "...nice. _He's perfect!_" He finished disgustedly.

"And Naru thought that tutor had been trouble." All three men looked startled at the feminine voice. They all gawked at Ayako while she obliviously looked to where Mai had been far down the street. Finally, she realized all three were waiting for her to say something when they hadn't known she'd been there the whole time. "What?" she asked pointedly. She jerked a thumb over at Yasuhara. "He's my ride home. You guys are so blockheaded. How did you not see me standing here this whole time? Dense, the lot of you," she complained.

Yasuhara merely raised an eyebrow. "You saw the ring, Naru?" He asked without pretense. Yasuhara lacked his normal formalism and joking demeanor. The man was entirely serious with a stern expression on his face, which fit him even more naturally than his usual jester-like nature.

Again, Naru nodded. Lifting his head, he spoke. "She keeps slipping it into her pocket, but I've seen it."

Takigawa's face crumpled into an expression of shock. Big brother mode kicked in full force. "A promise ring—right? _Right_!"

Yasuhara looked away, trying to hide his worried expression and Naru ran a hand through his hair, the first sign of aggravation either friend had seen on their boss in a long while.

Yasuhara turned to him, contemplative. "What are you going to do? You need to make your move quick. Before this situation gets too tricky." Yasuhara, the chess-master, the master manipulator was emerging, Naru noted somberly. Not that he would let him help _more than he already was._

Naru smiled, the familiar sliver of malice lining his slanted grin. "You think that I should go to her and break apart her engagement. That's low, Yasuhara, even for you."

"All's fair..." Yasuhara pointed out gravely.

Naru sighed. "She'll hate me."

"She's going to hate you either way. One way makes you a coward. The other way makes you a home wrecker. Which would an idiot prefer?" Yasuhara ventured demurely.

Naru eyed him with a skeptical look. "And you're saying she'll accept my feelings?"

Yasuhara let out a short burst of laughter. "Hell no! But you should at least let her know. No regrets at the very end. She's going to hate you, but at least you let her know. She deserves that much after all you've put her through, don't you think?"

"Shouldn't you be saying that I owe it to myself?"

Yasuhara grinned. "I'd be lying—you don't deserve it. We both know that. And that's not my type of pep talk. I lay it out in the open, no pretense needed. Saves everyone a lot of grief."

Naru remained silent before he sighed again, curling his hands into fists. From the front door of the office, Lin marched out with a bundle of papers tucked under his arm. Mai's absence had left a certain lack of organization in the office, a telltale sign that she hadn't been to the office for awhile—due to school or so she said. The loss of her was becoming increasingly evident. Like a solitary gravestone on a lonely hill. Obvious, stark and unnatural.

Lin came around the driver's side of the car without addressing either man. He knew something was going on, but would wait for Naru's askance.

Naru swung his feet back into the car, silently dismissing the two before he spoke. "See you both—all," he corrected, remembering Ayako, "tomorrow. 10 O'clock sharp," he said in his casual business tone, unlike heartache hadn't just been the topic of conversation.

He pulled the door closed sharply and Lin started the van.

Spurred into action, Yasuhara pushed off the van and wrenched the door back open. Ayako looked startled, but nodded in approval. Yasuhara's gaze flickered over him warily, searching him for an answer. "_What are you going to do_? You won't just ignore this. _I know you too well."_

They stared at each other for a few moments, locked in a standoff. Finally, Naru just shook his head and closed the door again, saying "10 O'clock. Don't be late."

* * *

It was early. There hadn't been a client in over a week, so the office should have been quiet—had S.P.R.'s good-for-nothing Irregulars not dropped by. Naru briefly considered giving Yasuhara a stern "talking to."

"And she's been with him for over eight months ever since spring and that_ tutor."_ Takigawa said the last as if it was sacrilegious.

"He is dangerously suave." Yasuhara whispered conspiratorially.

"An angel and a devil all in one," Ayako agreed. "I'm worried about the girl."

Naru knew what they were doing. He frowned, setting his head against the desk hard.

Outside the office, they paused at the heavy thud heard in Naru's office.

Ayako went on in a mock-whisper, phase one complete. She gasped. "I'm worried about h_er virtue_. He's a firefighter for goodness' sake. If that doesn't make her panties fall off, his amazing, and wonderful chest _will. Did you see his hair? Oh my. _She won't be…uh, pure."

Takigawa grimaced. "Sounds like it's _your undergarments _that we should be worried about, old woman. And who are you to talk about purity for marriage?"

The sound of glass shattering against a wall was distinct in Naru's office. "Likewise," the miko growled.

Naru didn't get up to go yell at them. That's what they wanted and then it would be just like this, 'Oh, hi,_ Naru, _I didn't know you were here. You were _so quiet.' _They would as him if they heard what they said and he would lie and try to kick them out. It sounded like one of Takigawa's schemes as Yasuhara would have been far more cunning and crafty.

But they would give up soon when he ignored them for just a bit longer.

A click was heard, followed by resonating footsteps. Naru heard Lin's placid, baritone voice. "If you all wouldn't _mind._ Naru and I are trying to work here while you are gossiping away like old women. Naru knows the situation and speaking so plainly of Taniyama's personal life is not only callous, it's cruel. Please think of whom you are really trying to help here and when you figure that out, think again on who you are indeed _hurting_ in this situation. I, myself, have not gotten an ounce of work done since you've been here. Congratulations, you have proved quite the distraction."

Naru sighed and clasped his hands in front of him. He hadn't gotten anything done, either, since they'd been here. If Lin was angry, then they must have crossed a line. Lin's patience rarely broke and if it did, his anger was normally well-deserved.

Awkward silence stretched on.

"Oh, hi, Lin. We didn't know you were here. Uh, you were…so quiet…we're sorry," Takigawa's voice wavered into guilt. "And you said this would work. _I could have come up with something better!"_ So it wasn't Takigawa's plan.

Ayako's?

"I'm running low on ideas." A low male voice said. _Yasuhara._

Yasuhara? It had been Yasuhara's hair-brained scheme? He certainly _was_ out of ideas if that moronic plan was all he could think of.

Yasuhara spoke louder, undoubtedly at Naru, in an anger he rarely heard from his friend. "If some _narcissistic idiot_ would get off his ass and just _say something to the girl he loves! _You think that he's the only one affected by this?" Yasuhara tried to temper himself, the effort evident in his voice. "Lin-san, I apologize for the intrusion on your space, truly." His voice grew louder, directed once again at Naru. "But while _he_ continues to act like a child, pretending he's unaffected by this, he's been making the rest of us miserable. You've been punishing us like we're the ones that are really making you upset! Like we've been wronging you! Why don't you grow up and admit that even you can be hurt and unhappy? That even you are human and can suffer like the rest of us. I pray I'm spared from such delusions. But Naru, you stop moping about it! And save us all from your idiocy and do something about it!"

A loud slam echoed through the office. Obviously, Yasuhara exiting.

Naru tried to relax the tense cord of muscle he'd become, winding tighter and tighter at every accurate barb Yasuhara had said.

The quiet click of Lin's office next door came through the wall. It was followed by the soft exit of Takigawa and Ayako.

Or so he thought.

A polite knock was heard on his door. He initially thought Lin, but when he looked up, the silhouette through the glass was feminine. His heart rate skyrocketed, then immediately eased up when Ayako slipped in.

"We're going to get Yasuhara…make sure he's all right." She tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear. A nervous gesture, and Naru wondered what it cost her to brave him and come into his office to say all this. She looked up at him, resolute and firm, but with gentle eyes. The mother habit that Mai always spoke of. "We're worried about you too. I know you aren't terribly good with the whole emotional aspect of friendships or anything, but please know that we're here, and we care." Her eyes were dark with emotion, not tears. Naru inhaled through his nose, not saying a word.

Her usual caustic attitude was diminished beneath obvious concern, and it jarred Naru. He'd have preferred her anger, then he would have known how to react. Her concern was unexpected and he wasn't sure what to do with it.

"We've watched you grow, seen the shadow of Gene, bless his soul, slowly lift from you. It was Mai that did that. Well, mostly. Maybe finding him provided you the closure, but it was Mai who filled that void, and you know it. We won't press you anymore about this. I can't imagine how painful this is for you, especially so because you deal with everything on your own. But hear my last plea. Just learn to be happy, Naru. That's all any of us could ever ask for. I don't care how you do it, but find it. Find your happiness. With, or without her."

Ayako slipped back out the door just as quickly. She went to Lin's office, apologizing again, and asked the Chinese man if he would drive them around to find Yasuhara. They both left in a hush of silence, leaving Naru alone in the office to contemplate Ayako's words, Mai's life, and his happiness. We're they really all that interconnected?

* * *

Days later, Yasuhara still hadn't come by the office. Naru knew it wasn't because he was mad any longer, but more likely, Yasuhara felt guilty and was really angry at himself. He was that type of person to agonize over something they said later, especially because Yasu knew just how to cut a person the deepest. That was why Yasuhara always did his best to maintain his cheery, and calm façade. The man knew the power of his words and nearly always restrained them. It was why Yasuhara, more than the others was one of the most dangerous among them, if not the most.

Lin had actually refused to come in to work today as it was a Sunday, but Naru knew it had more to do with Madoka's threats than with him actually minding working. Naru had gotten the same emails about working less, but things had to be done around the office.

It also had the benefit of having Mai around the office because she had offered to come in upon calling in to find him answering the phone. She brought him breakfast and had dallied around the office all morning while the rain and cold of winter clouded the atmosphere outside.

Mai casually came into the room, a soft smile on her face, and the smallest line of her neck peeking out over her teal scarf.

The silver glint of ring on her finger was no longer being hidden from him since she knew he knew. She set a new brew of tea down beside the cold and stagnant one.

Unwelcome or not, Naru couldn't get Ayako's words out of his head. It gave him the courage to cover Mai's hand with his own, a brush of warmth curling on the edge of his nerves.

Though she was startled, Mai unconsciously moved closer as he turned her hand over to look at the ring perched on her finger. He let her hand drop and looked up at her.

"Another one?" He was, of course, referring to the slew of men in her life. (Three men constituted 'a slew' to Naru.)

Diverting, Mai pulled at the ends of her hair tentatively. Mai feigned ignorance, saying, "The last haircut made me look like a mushroom head, so I'm letting it grow out a bit."

Naru scowled. "I'm not talking about your haircut—though it's nice," he said, trying to recover from how disdainful he sounded. He stood, turning to face the window as he bolstered his resolve.

Mai moved to stand next to him, staring out the window as well. She knew a fragile moment when she saw one, and could weigh this one in her palm. Naru, unsure, was a fleeting experience at most.

Wanting to make the most of it, Mai tentatively slid her hand into his. His hands were freezing, and Mai moved to cover the same hand with her other one to warm it.

Naru turned to the side, facing her and about to say something.

Mai interrupted him. "Can we agree not to talk about him? Or anyone else in my life—or your life for that matter, should it ever happen."

Naru nodded, silently agreeing, but wouldn't look away from her.

The office was quiet enough that they could only hear the patter of rain against the windows, and the ratcheted sound of each other breathing. The intimacy of such an experience wasn't lost on either of them. Naru could tell that Mai was just as affected, and slowly, ever so slowly leaned down towards her. When she met his eyes with a weighty resolve filling her eyes, he closed the distance, briefly touched his lips against hers. That ghost of a touch curdled in her stomach, pleasure and apprehension mingling with joy.

Mai sighed happily and Naru felt his tentative hold on sanity break like glass falling against tiled floor, shattering. She still cared. That much was obvious. The way she kissed him back and pressed into him spoke of her encouragement. She was warm, a bit rough on the technical aspects, but more than eager. They shifted and he leaned her back until her thighs hit the edge of his desk.

He parted from her. "Stay with me."

Three little words, unlike any Mai had ever imagined shifted the atmosphere of the room. Like the ground had just evaporated from under her feet. She paused, and Naru leaned down to her again, tugging on the scarf at her neck gently. Willingly, she sunk into him again, pulling at the edge of his shirt. She accepted another kiss and Naru's stomach tightened when he felt her hand slip up his side, gentle and eager.

Her voice was disjointed when she finally said something. "Your desk, ah, isn't how I imagined this—well, I have, but not for the first time," she said firmly, but with a small smile on her face.

Naru felt his familiar smugness reemerge. Mai's own grin grew wider when she recognized the smirk. "So you've imagined this then?" He asked with a hint of suggestiveness.

Mai chuckled, popping open a button of his shirt. "And you haven't?"

"Would you prefer your desk?" Mai pulled on his lapels and laughed all the louder as she tugged him down for another kiss.

* * *

Nighttime. Definitely not Naru's favorite time of the day. As much as others thought he would be more fond of the night, they were wrong. He enjoyed the morning. The time of day when he get up early, prepare for the day, begin work for long hours…oh and daylight, which was particularly underrated. Naru _liked _being able to see things clearly. Nighttime washed things out and made them indistinct. Things like moronic teenagers who walked out in the middle of a crowded street in front of his car.

Naru stomped on the brake hard, tires screeching and locking as the back end of the van fishtailed on the wet pavement. He held his breath as he skid to a stop mere feet from the small group of teenagers that had walked out into the middle of the road _at night_ without a thought or care of consequences.

Nerve-wrecked, but controlled, Naru wished for a moment that Lin was here so that he could drive this second-hand storage vehicle. Sadly, Lin was in his homeland visiting family for his cousin's wedding. And Naru was almost flattening schoolgirls into pancakes with S.P.R.'s white storage van. _Idiots._

Upset with himself at getting distracted, Naru considered laying on the horn until they were off the road and out of sight, but he refrained, instead staring up at the ceiling, praying for patience from his deceased twin. Naru reluctantly tried to swallow his anger at the teenagers. Anger was always his first reaction, his instinct. But having lost family to a car accident or whatever the police had ruled it as, he knew better than most that the tragedy that could have happened would have been horrific… and it would have been him on he other side this time, instead of in front of the headlights like Gene. The guilt would be unbearable. He sighed heavily setting his head against the steering wheel, trying to calm himself. The steering wheel creaked under his firm grip.

On second thought, he was glad that Lin wasn't here. He'd never let him hear the end of it—or let him drive again. Naru had been in _one _accident and Lin reminded him every time he got behind the wheel.

Heart rate still thudding, he decided to take the side streets back home rather than venture the Tokyo main thoroughfares, especially with his nerves already frazzled.

According to the radio, he made the right decision. Traffic in the residential area was an easy drive that put him through on the other side of the financial district and into the local nightlife area without any heavy traffic.

The area he drove through now was full to the brim with a younger crowd. It was a Friday night, after all, and most people his age were going out with friends, not working until 11 o'clock. Not quite the red light district, but this area was only a hair less seedy with the bars and late nightclubs strewn about. Even the drunks were abundant tonight. Naru thought he saw a man vomiting in the back alley. Classy, that.

Naru stopped at the light taking a moment to take in the unfamiliar terrain. Neon lights and a heady atmosphere that begged short dresses and the occasional working girl on the corner. The streets were dark, damp from rain, and low-lit street lamps dotted the strip that diminished the imperfections of people's faces. It was a breeding ground for sin, meant for late-night binge drinking and a poor excuse for courting women. Naru wasn't opposed to a little sin. After all, he believed in psychics and veritable magic in the eyes of his parents' religion. Technically, his abilities would classify him as a biblical witch, especially because they had no term for psychic back that far, or was that a prophet? Could prophets move things with their minds? Naru had never thought on it before then. He'd have to do some better research just in case the topic ever came up.

On the sidewalk, Naru watched as a taller man stumbled and weighed down heavily on his smaller date, clad in a short red cocktail dress and painful-looking heels. With all her strength, she fought to balance on the heels, hold the man up with his arm tossed haphazardly over her shoulder as she tried vainly to flag down a taxi on the curb.

Naru's foot came down hard as he realized the girl stumbling under the weight of the man was Mai, his illfated assistant. Luckily his foot was still firmly on the brake; Otherwise, he would have rear-ended another car. And then he would have to explain to Lin the reason for the new car sitting in the lot, and not their trusty van that Lin seemed to have an affinity for.

Naru put his hazard lights on and pulled off the side of the road, directly in front of Mai, who was frantically signaling for cabs. Thinking sluggishly, he thought about tossing the door open and telling her to get in, but from the heavy scowl lining her face, he thought better of it. She would never get in the car, especially not after what had happened last week.

Shutting his door behind him, he got out and came around the backside of the van to see her resolutely standing firm under the weight of her… her what? What was the man to her?

"I hope for your sake that he isn't some vagrant you took pity on," Naru said accusingly.

Mai actually half-laughed at him (though the other half was still a leery scowl). "It's Tetsuo."

Naru eyed the man, studying him in true scientific fashion, slow, lingering as if to take everything about the man in. The man hiccupped and sluggishly mumbled something over to Mai. From her expression, she didn't understand it either.

Looking back at Naru, Mai scowled at him. "Stop judging him. It's not anything like you think, and he's awake, just drunk." How she managed to look formidable with an intoxicated full grown man hanging over her still baffled Naru.

He didn't say anything when she sent him a challenging look. Both sat in an awkward silence, searching for something to say, listening to the din of the traffic.

Naru against his better judgment offered her a ride.

Mai quickly shook her head, rearranging her grip on her unbalanced beau. "No _**way.**_I meant—sorry, I mean, no thank you. We'll catch a taxi."

Naru glared at her skeptically, pursing his lips. "Any longer out here like that and the police will take him in. Just get in the van. The taxi ride home from here will cost you a day's pay."

"I don't get paid so little now, you know. This boss actually likes me," Mai countered as she teetered on her heels again. Looking around Naru, Mai frowned at all the taxis flying by. Looking back at him, she sighed, "Okay, I'll take the ride, please."

She stumbled forward, Tetsuo walking haphazardly, but unhelpfully. Naru walked forward and caught the man under his other shoulder. With slapdash coordination, together they loaded him into the bench seat in the back.

Before he could say a word, Mai climbed into the back with her fiancé and shut the door behind her.

Naru got in the car and they slowly, started towards her place. "You still live in the same place?"

"Same area, different apartment. I'm only a block down from where I used to live." She said, staring at the side of the metal van. Her reflection bounced as Naru hit a pothole. He glanced back, Mai sitting comfortably in the little red dress with Tetsuo's head in her lap. She was silent for a long while.

"What did you mean earlier when you said it's not what I think? How do you know what I was thinking about your beau?"

Mai's serious expression didn't change when it shifted back to him. "Because I know you. I know you were thinking he's just some alcoholic bum, but he's not. I told you it's not what you think. I meant it."

Naru paused. "Then what's the occasion?"

Mai didn't say anything for a bit, then sighed wearily. "He passed all his training today. He's not a rookie trainee firefighter anymore. He was promoted like a graduation, so his company took him out to celebrate tonight. _They're all like that right now, _but I couldn't carry them all home, so I called their wives and roommates and told them to pick them up while I took him home."

Oh. The rest of the drive was silent, and walking Tetsuo up her stairs proved difficult as he was heavy and the staircase could barely fit the three of them side-by-side. Naru held him up outside her door as she fumbled for her keys and together they got him in her apartment and dropped him onto the couch at Naru's unspoken insistence. He was_ not putting that other man in her bed._

Mai wandered into the kitchen to get some water. He heard the water tap turn on as he stared at the man laying on Mai's couch, all his dark hair and probably equally dark eyes. A good-sized scar lay horizontal across the man's cheekbone, likely from a fight or something close to it. Naru knew the wounds and the way it hadn't been stitched together, probably only butterflied closed. One of those manly men who thought stitches were unnecessary.

"Can you see if he'll drink this while I go change out of this?" She handed the water glass to him and Naru barely paused before he set the glass onto her coffee table next to the man and followed after her.

Naru pushed open her bedroom door that she hadn't closed all the way. He leaned just on the inside of the doorway. Mai eyed him in the reflection of her standing mirror.

"Is there a reason your in my room? Have you been hiding these perverted tendencies all these years?" She mocked.

"I was going to offer to help get your zipper." Naru frowned.

Mai smiled sardonically. "It's a side zip, but thanks for the offer." She looked at him, but when he didn't make to leave, she started to pull at the zipper on her dress in an obvious suggestion: get out.

When he didn't budge, she said, "Aren't you going to leave?"

Naru didn't back down. "Not when you're offering a free show."

Mai zipped the dress back up and stalked over to him, shorter now that her heels had been kicked off.

Mai poked a finger into his chest. "Don't be vulgar, or perverted. And how can you say that? _My fiancé is_ in the next room if you've forgotten. This is my house—apartment—and you won't disrespect me in my place. Otherwise you can get out."

"I'm not the one undressing in front of other men."

Mai's face lit in a bright red.

"_OUT,"_ she growled, shoving him further backward.

"Classy. He's a keeper, Mai." Naru said, as they passed her unconscious fiancé on the couch.

Mai grit her teeth, lips pursed in refusal to admit she was wrong about him. "He runs into burning buildings everyday to save people. I'd say he's a keeper," she said fiercely. "You, on the other hand, come uninvited into my room. That's _real classy. _You're just because you're mad that I left you at the office. Well, sorry for having some morals and not wanting to _cheat_ on my _fiancé._"

Naru inhaled sharply at her harsh judgment, narrowing his eyes at her. She set her hands firmly on her hips, defiant. "You still love me."

Mai abruptly pulled Naru back into her room and away from her fiancé. "_Shut up," _she whispered vehemently. She glanced back out the hallway and they heard the dull sound of snoring. Turning back to him, she scoffed. "So full of yourself."

He stepped closer. "And yet you're not fighting me," he said rather curiously. Naru took another step closer, cornering her. "Why?"

He leaned down, slowly in askance then kissed her when she didn't back up (not that she could as a wall was behind her, he admitted).

She even seemed to be enjoying it before she roughly shoved him off. "Now, of _all times_, you make a pass at me." Grabbing his arm, she dragged him down the hall, past her fiancé and out the door. Letting him go roughly, Mai stepped out after him and closed the door behind her.

Without a pause, Mai stood on tiptoe and with a hand behind his head, pulled him down again. She kissed him this time. It was her initiating and Naru felt a certain pride in that as she let out a shaky breath. Abruptly, she turned and went back inside without another word and shut the door.

* * *

**Summer**

It was Sunday again which made him happy. And hot, which made him cranky. The office should have been quiet...but like usual, it never was. Voice grated on his ears again from outside Naru's office.

"I can't believe you. Yasuhara-san, I'm very impressed. She's beautiful, and from what you say about her, intelligent as well. When did you ask her, if you don't mind me asking?" Masako wiped her lips primly with a napkin after she took another sip of tea.

"A couple months ago. You know when Mai broke it off with the guy—the firefighter."

"—Oh yes, I definitely remember that—"

"Right after that," Yasuhara explained.

Naru hated how they seemed to mark their calendars by the events happening in Mai's life, rather than remembering conventional dates. Strange to say the least. If Mai had anything to say about it, she would label it disturbing. Speaking of the girl...where was she?

The front door opened with the sound of bells chiming over the top of it. The soft footfalls of his favorite female assistant was back…we'll technically not assistant. Mai hadn't taken the spot back with her, nor had she decided to work with Naru again.

"Masako, Yasuhara, what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?" She didn't sound surprised at all. Wary, actually, Naru noticed. The girl had grown wiser over the years, after all.

"Discussion the wedding," Yasuhara said pleasantly. Naru swore he heard Mai choking. Ever since her last relationship, Mai seemed to have developed an aversion to anything reminiscent of a lasting commitment. She wouldn't even allow Naru the privilege of the title boyfriend-not that Naru minded...much.

"Congratulations," Mai said awkwardly, trying to cover her tracks.

"Perhaps, if you sound more sincere next time…" Yasuhara suggested slowly. Mai muffled an apology.

"Are those for Naru?" Masako asked, and Naru silently thanked the medium for her quick diversion of sending Mai on without further retribution from Yasuhara. Things weren't entirely on the up and up with the spectacled male. He seemed to be waiting for an apology that Naru stoutly was denying.

"Ah, yes. In fact, I should get them to him. I'll see you guys before you leave?" Mai offered, sounding grateful.

The medium's measured tone was hard to hear for Naru. She spoke quietly enough that he couldn't hear. He only knew that Mai had responded in turn, and from her footsteps was headed his way.

"Oh, and Mai, one of your friends called. Michiko, I think," Yasuhara said, pondering on the last thought.

"You've met her before. It's Michiru," Mai scolded. "She's been around here. Don't pretend you don't remember her. Though for her to call here…must mean it's pretty serious."

"I would think so," he agreed.

"Well, thanks." Mai shut the door behind her and smiled warmly at Naru. She circled around the desk, slowly, as if worried he'd reject her advance at any minute. When he didn't, she draped her arms over his shoulders from behind his chair and laid her cheek on his head.

"You seem tense," she mused tentatively.

"Do I?" he countered, solemnly.

"It could be me—or maybe it's the white-knuckled grip you have on your coffee mug. Hm?"

"It's nothing."

"Only if you want it to be," she offered. But Naru knew what that meant. It was a silent threat. Tell me, or suffer the difference later.

He sighed miserably. "What did you mean when you said that it must have been important for Michiru to call by the office? You know your friends are welcome to call here. Just not during business hours," he added as an addendum.

Mai sounded surprised. _"That's what you're bothered about?_ I thought you were mad about them mentioning Tetsuo—uh, sorry. I know you—never mind! Forget I said anything." She unwound her arms from his shoulders, standing up straight.

"You're skipping the point."

"You're really worried about why I think it was weird for her to call here?"

"I don't see why you said it was '_important for her to call here_.'"

"Are you trying to pick a fight over nothing?" She growled. Naru's fingers clenched and unclenched in his waning patience. Mai wandered out from behind him and perched against the edge of his desk in front of him.

She didn't say anything for a while. Slowly, she measured out her response, not wanting to offend him, knowing just how easy it was to do so. "If my friends call here, it does mean something. Naru, they are frightened to call here. You _hate them_." So much for going light on him. Utter failure.

Naru tried to hide the offended sound in his voice. "I _do not hate them."_

"Maybe hate is too strong. You just think very, very, very little of my friends."

"I do not hate them," he repeated.

"Them? Just like that. What are there names?"

"Your friends like me," Naru said, trying to sidetrack her.

Mai remained silent and that was answer enough.

"Michiru doesn't like me?"

Silence.

"Yuuri?"

Again, nothing.

"…the… other one?" Mai whipped around to fix him with a harsh glare.

"And you wonder _why they don't like you?"_

"Why?" He asked offhandedly, trying to hide that he actually was a tad bit curious. "They used to like me," he said sourly, defending his honor.

She shrugged, tugging her hair up into a quick and messy bun. "My friends don't really like you that much." The comment which years ago wouldn't have bothered him drew him up short.

He tried to think of something to refute her and her irritating claims, but nothing came to mind.

Pointing at himself, he finished lamely, "They think I'm good-looking,"

Mai rolled her eyes. "And mean, and rude, and moody—and you don't have the excuse of being a female—and you keep me at work too late—sorry, _kept _me at work late, and never complimented me, and you called my friends stupid, ignorant cows—to their faces I might add." She ticked off each remark on her fingers. He noticed that she was almost running dangerously low of said digits. She looked up at him sourly, dropping her hands. "The list goes on. I can't imagine why they don't like you though. You're always so charming," she finished drolly.

Naru returned her scowl until her fierce glare melted into a dazzling smile. "I like you better when you're offended. It's a nice turn of the tables," she said happily as she dropped into his lap. She stretched up to him and pecked him quickly on the cheek. Out of her pocket, she fished a small cardboard box and opened it, plopping a chocolate-coated candy stick into her mouth. Naru was suddenly a little more distracted than he cared to admit as she rolled it around against the inside of her cheek.

She craned her neck and glanced out the window behind him. "Gosh, I love the summer. It's _amazing—_and the weather is so beautiful. Want to do a picnic this weekend? I could use a day out in the sun. Maybe a little sake—maybe a little bikini? Naru—hey, are you paying attention to me? _Naru._"

Naru really hated the summer, but for this—for Mai—he was willing to compromise a bit, if only for her to do the same. He wilted under the heat, especially in the past when he had worn his mourning clothes. Black absorbed the heat and made him hide out in the office more often that he would admit. Not that he'd ever admit it—to anyone.

Maybe if he worded it tactfully, he could talk Mai out of the park and subsequent heat and into the flirty little frilled skirts she was so fond of and back into the office. Or maybe the opposite. He wouldn't be averse to talking her out of the skirt and into a little heat. Surely, she couldn't be reluctant to that, but just in case, Naru kept a small strawberry flavored case of pop rocks on the arm of his chair within her easy eyesight. Chance favored the prepared mind, or so he'd read somewhere.

He didn't really expect her to resist him, but… it couldn't hurt.

* * *

_~ Seasons ~_


End file.
